Labour, hiring in industry and services slows in autumn

The end of the summer season brings an initial slowdown in the hiring outlook for companies in September, and for the September-November quarter. With the minus sign confirmed for the main manufacturing sectors, and also beginning to involve some service sectors. Tariffs and the climate of international uncertainty are affecting our economy, and the effects (starting with expectations) are also beginning to be seen on labour.

In September, there were almost 569 thousand job opportunities offered by companies, the Excelsior Information System bulletin, produced by Unioncamere and the Ministry of Labour, announced yesterday. Compared to the previous year, there was a drop of -15 thousand planned entries (-2.6%). The September-November quarter also showed more shadows than lights: companies planned to hire more than 1.5 million workers, but registered a drop of about 30 thousand (-1.9%) compared to the September-November 2024 quarter. And while the industrial sector, and individual manufacturing sectors, have been showing signs of distress for a few months now, it is also the services sector that is forecasting fewer hirings. In fact, 377,000 job contracts were forecast in September and about 1 million in the September-November quarter, down by -9,000 and -16,000 respectively in the comparison with 2024. The only sectors holding up and expecting more hirings, both over the month and the quarter, are catering and tourism services and construction.

Looking at the numbers a little more in detail, industry as a whole planned 147 thousand entries in September and 404 thousand in the quarter (-5 thousand entries and -14 thousand compared to the same periods in 2024, respectively). Manufacturing firms are looking for about 91 thousand workers in September and 251 thousand between September and November, while construction firms are looking for 56 thousand in the month and 154 thousand in the quarter. The main manufacturing sectors planning to hire include mechatronics with about 21 thousand contracts in the month and 57 thousand in the quarter, followed by the food industry which is looking for 17 thousand workers in September and 49 thousand for the entire September-November quarter, and metallurgy with 17 thousand contracts in the month and 45 thousand in the quarter.

As regards services, it is personal services that offer the most job opportunities, with 97 thousand workers sought in the month and about 210 thousand in the quarter. This is followed by tourism with 96 thousand applications in the month and 255 thousand in the quarter and trade with 65 thousand workers in the month and 207 thousand in the quarter.

In terms of size, the expectations of very small enterprises, up to 9 employees, are positive, with +5,000 entries in the month (+3.0%) and +27,000 in the quarter (+5.7%), while the forecasts in the remaining size brackets are down, with a greater intensity in medium-sized enterprises between 50 and 250 employees (-8,6% in the month and -7.7% in the quarter), testifying to the suffering of a large slice of our SMEs made in Italy (it is no coincidence that in the first six months of the year, the CIG rose by 21.83% compared to the same six months of 2024, with peaks in mechanics and industry in general).